Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon

Read a synopsis here!Number of pages: 232Release Date: September 18, 2012I've never read such a deep emotional book like this one. Especially in the YA genre. I've read more serious books for school that were nonfiction, but this fictional story about real life events deeply moved me in a way that few other YA books have ever before.Confessinos of a Teenage Hermaphrodite is the story of a boy/girl who is trying to come to terms with what sex they want to live with for the rest of their life. Jamie, wants to live as a girl, but her parents want her to live as the boy, Jameson, which was who they conformed her into being for most of her life. Jamie finds that when she stands up to her parents they threaten her with drugs (such as having to take testosterone to become more man-like) so when Jamie goes off to college she starts making her own decisions and realizes that she does not want to be a boy, and wants to live her life as a woman. Coming to terms with this realization, however, brings about a large amount of social pressure, along with pressure from Jamie's family and friends. Jamie also struggles internally over whether or not she should be able to fall in love, and have children, and if she wants to be cut off from her family so she can live the way she wants to for once.When I read the synopsis I thought there would be a lot more focus on the medical side of Jamie's condition, but there was just the right amount to describe why she was feeling the way she was feeling about certain issues, and didn't delude from the plot at all. The medical facts and plot flowed exceptionally well together, in a way that created an emotionally deep story.This isn't a quick read by any means, and I think it's meant to be absorbed and thought over more than a typical YA book that is more for mere pleasure. There are some sensitive subjects in here so I would recommend that teens be at least in high school when they are reading this. Otherwise, someone may not be able to appreciate the story as much and take away as many meanings and morals from the story.I think that the synopsis sort of deceives the story, because it is so much more in depth and more meaningful than can be expressed in a vague one paragraph summary on the back of the book. I would highly recommend this book for teens and adults to read if they want to take a break from some light reading and dive into something deeper.Overall, an excellent read and something about it will make you want to read it again and again. Also, I didn't like the cover that much at first, but after fully reading this book it completely made sense and worked excellently! See you soon!PaigeP.S. Huge thank you to Lianne Simon for sending me this ARC!